[THE  HOUSE  AND 
ITS  PLENIS 


House  and  its 
Plenishing 

Being  a  brief  endeavor 

clearly  to    set   forth  the 

principles   which  should   underlie 

any   well-considered    scheme 

for  the  proper  furnishing 

of   the    House 


New  York 

/if  <=^i 

r»«  v      ^r          ^*  " "  '  "A"  ~  ~  t~ 

(ur  nit  ur  e  Uompany 

I  N  c   o  K.  r    o  *TK  1  *  o   *  «/ 

34  and  36  West  Thirty-Second  Street 
Between  Fifth  Avenue  and  Broadway 


Copyright,  1910,  by 

THE  GRAND  RAPIDS  FURNITURE  COMPANY 
INCORPORATED 


Arranged  and  Printed  at 

The  CHELTENHAM  Press 

New  York 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  BARBARA 


By  Way  of  Introduction 

[HEN  we  come  to  analyze 
the  alluring  charm  inher- 
ent in  the  oak-panelled  and 
coffer-ceilinged    room    of 
some  historic  old  English 
Manor  house,  we  feel  that 
it  is  not  entirely  due  to 
the  picturesqueness  of  the 
architectural  surroundings. 
Rather  is  it  to  be  found  in  the  time-worn  furni- 
ture round  which  the  family  associations  of  gen- 
erations seem  to  cling. 

Here,  we  feel,  are  household  goods  entitled  to 


THE       HOUSE       AND       ITS       PLENISHING 


that  worship  whose  ritual  is  the  tender  familiarity 
of  life-long  appreciation.  So  strong  is  the  feeling 
of  personality  that  attaches  to  each  one  of  these 
friendly  belongings,  that  almost  can  we  see  the 
former  owners,  in  starched  Elizabethan  ruff  or 
trim  knee-breeches  of  Georgian  days,  as  the  case 
may  be,  sitting  in  this  high-backed  chair  or  reach- 
ing for  some  cherished  piece  of  china  to  the  shelf 
of  that  diamond-latticed  cabinet. 

Nor  is  the  reason  far  to  seek ;  this  was  furniture 
chosen  not  at  random  or  in  obedience  to  the  dic- 
tates of  an  ephemeral  fashion,  but  after  mature 
thought  and  deliberation,  to  serve  some  definite 
and  well-considered  purpose. 

And  so  to-day  if  the  house  we  live  in  is  to  be 
a  home  and  not  a  mere  dwelling-place,  it  must  be 
furnished  with  a  discriminating  care  that  is  the 
offspring  of  real  affection  for  the  things  we  know 
as  furniture. 

It  calls  for  somewhat  more  than  even  the  most 
expert  intelligence.  It  demands  a  degree  of  inter- 
est that  approaches  the  enthusiastic. 

To  the  increasing  number  of  those  who  share 
these  views  the  following  pages  will,  it  is  hoped, 
prove  of  service. 

THE    GRAND     RAPIDS     FURNITURE    COMPANY 


THE  LIVING-ROOM 


The  Living-Room  or 
Drawing- Room 

WHEN  the  revelling  in  the  Banqueting- 
Hall  of  mediaeval  England  reached  its 
boisterous  height,  the  Lady  with  her 
maidens  would  discreetly  withdraw  to 
her  Bedchamber.    In  time  a  portion  of  this  room 
was  screened  off  for  her  reception,  and  later  a  sep- 
arate room  was    provided.     So    by  degrees   the 
"Withdrawing-Room"  became  a  permanent  fea- 
ture of  the  English  houses  and  took  the  place  of 
the  French  "Salon  de  Compagnie"  or  state  apart- 
ment. 

We  have  retained  the   name  in  its  shortened 
form,  but  the  province  of  the  modern  Drawing- 


THE       HOUSE       AND       ITS       PLENISHING 


Room  has  been  so  enlarged  that  it  must  be  regarded 
not  simply  as  the  Lady's  Withdrawing-Room, 
and  still  less  as  a  mere  gala,  or  state,  apartment. 
While  partaking  to  an  extent  of  both  these  charac- 
teristics, the  Drawing-Room  in  houses  of  an  average 
size  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  Living-Room  or 
meeting-place  for  the  whole  family,  when  the 
pleasures  and  pursuits,  the  business  occupations 
and  cares  of  the  day  are  over. 

These  varied  functions  demand  a  singular  care 
and  discretion  in  its  furnishing. 

Neither  must  formality  and  display  be  carried 
to  the  point  of  chilly  discomfort,  nor  must  a  de- 
sirable coziness  be  attained  at  the  expense  of  a 
certain  stateliness  of  appearance. 

The  ornate  elaboration,  for  instance,  of  the 
period  of  Louis  XV — with  its  carved  gilt  and 
tapestried  Bergeres  by  Gouthiere  or  Riesener,  its 
Commodes  with  their  mountings  of  cisele  Bronze 
by  the  Caffieri,  or  its  Encoigneurs  elaborately  in- 
laid by  Boule — will  not  serve  our  purpose.  While 
appropriate  enough  for  the  comparatively  rare 
occasions  of  an  entirely  formal  hospitality,  such  a 
scheme  would  seem  garish  and  out  of  place  under 
the  normal  conditions  of  modern  family  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  somewhat  sober  gravity 
and  sedateness  which  distinguish  much  of  the 

THE     GRAND     RAPIDS    FURNITURE    COMPANY 


THE   HOUSE   AND   ITS   PLENISHING 


Mahogany  of  the  earlier  Chippendale  period  befit 
as  little  a  room  which  must  serve,  not  seldom, 
under  an  artificial  illumination,  as  a  setting  for  the 
variegated  toilettes  of  an  evening  assemblage. 

There  is,  however,  in  the  furniture  of  the  English 
School  a  midway  ground,  which  offers  that  min- 
gling of  courtliness  and  simplicity  for  which  the 
room  seems  to  call. 

In  the  works  of  Sheraton  and  Heppelwhite,  of 
Thomas  Shearer  and  Robert  Manwaring,  and  of 
other  craftsmen  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  one  may  find  the  ideal  furnishings  for 
the  Drawing-Room  or  Living-Room,  whatever 
may  be  its  proportions  and  whether  its  surround- 
ings be  of  the  Country  or  of  the  Town. 

In  these  shield-backed  Chairs,  slender-appearing 
but  constructionally  strong;  in  these  taper-legged 
Card  and  Occasional  Tables;  in  these  finely 
proportioned  Cabinets,  through  whose  latticed 
doors  may  be  caught  the  harmonious  coloring  of 
old  china  and  the  radiance  of  antique  glass;  in 
these  Window-seats  with  their  gracefully  attenuated 
supports ;  in  these  folding  Screens  with  their  sug- 
gestions of  the  coquetries  of  an  earlier  age — in 
each  and  every  one  we  find  the  same  note  of  old- 
world  refinement.  Their  convincing  elegance  of 
form  and  suavity  of  line  are  reminiscent  of  that 

34    AND    36    WEST  THIRTY-SECOND    STREET,    NEW    YORK 


THE      HOUSE      AND      ITS       PLENISHING 


neo-classic  revival  which,  following  the  excavations 
at  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  so  strongly  in- 
fluenced the  minor  arts  of  England  and  of  France. 

Add  to  this  the  effect  of  buoyant  animation  im- 
parted by  the  delicate  lines  of  inlay  which  brighten 
the  shadowy  richness  of  the  Mahogany  and  by  the 
painted  bands  of  floral  or  conventional  decoration 
which  harmonize  so  aptly  with  the  golden  surfaces 
of  the  Satinwood,  and  their  tale  is  told  of  charm 
and  delightsomeness. 


THE    GRAND     RAPIDS     FURNITURE     COMPANY 


THE  DINING-ROOM 


CHELTENHAM,  N.> 


Y~ 


The  Dining-Room 

NEITHER  gloomy  nor  frivolous,  but 
of  a  dignified  cheeriness,  the  Dining- 
Room  should  be  instinct  with  the  spirit 
of  hospitality,  and  accord  its  welcome, 
not  only  to  the  stranger-guest,  but  to  the  members 
of  the  household  and  their  intimates  as  well.     To 
this  the  furniture  must  contribute,  at  least  as  much 
as  the  interior  decorations  and  architectural  treat- 
ment, and  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  Style  and  Period 
which  lend  themselves  most  fittingly  to  the  desired 
purpose    the   bygone  associations    of   the 
itself  may  well  receive  some  consideration. 


room 


As  we  know  it  —  as  a  room  set  apart  for  the 
purposes  of  the  table — it  was,  in  all  but  English 


THE      HOUSE      AND      ITS      PLENISHING 


houses,  practically  unknown  until  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  In  France  as  in  Italy  it  was 
the  practice  for  the  family  to  dine  in  any  one  of 
the  Dining-Rooms  temporarily  available  and  con- 
venient. 

But  in  England  the  case  was  very  different. 
As  early  as  the  seventeenth  century  the  "  Dining- 
Parlor,"  as  it  was  termed,  was  a  very  marked 
feature  in  English  house-planning.  Oftentimes, 
indeed,  there  were  several  of  these,  so  arranged 
that  they  could  be  advantageously  used  in  turn 
and  in  accordance  with  the  varying  seasons  of  the 
year. 

Not  until  the  middle  of  the  succeeding  century, 
however,  did  the  Dining-Room  assume  its  place 
of  present  importance,  for  not  until  then  did  the 
formal  dinner  become  the  conventional  manifesta- 
tion of  hospitality. 

Of  the  resulting  predilection  for  some  little 
stateliness  and  display  in  the  furnishing  of  this 
room  with  its  increasing  significance,  the  English 
furniture-makers  were  not  slow  to  avail  themselves. 

Thomas  Chippendale,  for  instance,  devotes  no 
little  of  his  "Gentleman's  and  Cabinet-Maker's 
Director"  to  "Chairs,  Side-Tables,  Wine-Coolers, 
Knife-boxes,  and  other  pieces  suitable  for  Dining- 
Room  adornment." 

THE     GRAND     RAPIDS    FURNITURE    COMPANY 


THE      HOUSE      AND      ITS       PLENISHING 


The  thought  and  consideration  bestowed  by  him 
on  his  Dining-Room  chairs  resulted  in  the  pro- 
duction of  a  type  preeminently  fitted  for  table 
use — the  seats  wide  and  deep  so  that  the  often- 
times tediously  protracted  sitting  might  be  en- 
dured, the  backs  not  too  high  to  interfere  with  the 
convenient  service  of  the  table. 

It  follows  then  that  the  choice  of  appropriate 
furniture  for  the  Dining-Room  may  well  be  de- 
termined in  favor  of  the  later  Chippendale  period, 
with  only  one  exception.  Chippendale  never  made 
a  Sideboard,  and  therefore,  for  this  characteristic 
fitment  of  the  modern  Dining-Room,  the  assis- 
tance of  Chippendale's  contemporaries  and  suc- 
cessors, Shearer  or  Sheraton,  must  be  invoked. 


34    AND    36    WEST    THIRTY-SECOND    STREET,   NEW   YORK 


THE  LIBRARY 


CHELTENHAM, N.V. 


The  Library 


AL  natural  consequence  of  the  part  it  so 
often  plays,  of  the  general  Living- Room 
of  the  masculine  side  of  the  household, 
it  seems  fitting  that  the  dominant  note 
of  the  Library's  furnishing  should  be  one  of  viril- 
ity, vigor,  and  sobriety. 

Not  until  long  after  the  invention  of  printing, 
and  the  consequent  reduplication  of  books,  was 
the  Library,  as  we  know  it,  to  differentiate  itself 
from  the  Scriptorium  of  monkish  days.  But  be- 
fore the  mid-seventeenth  century  mark  had  been 
crossed,  the  Library  in  many  an  English  country 
mansion  had  come  to  be  a  room  of  considerable 
consequence. 


THE       HOUSE       AND       ITS       PLENISHING 


And  so,  to-day,  when  we  evoke  a  memory-pic- 
ture of  the  typical  book-worm,  though  he  himself 
may  be  habited  in  the  sober  black  small-clothes 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  we  see  him  seated  in  a 
high-backed  Stuart  chair  of  carved  walnut,  and 
resting  his  black-letter  folio  on  a  sturdy  oaken 
table  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  days. 

There  are  sentimental  reasons,  then,  for  relying, 
as  regards  at  least  one  of  the  main  features  of  the 
Library's  furnishing,  on  reproductions  —  the  most 
faithful  procurable  —  of  English  Oak  and  Walnut 
furniture  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

Yet,  though  the  craftsmen  of  the  first  three 
quarters  of  that  century  produced  work  that  has 
rarely  been  excelled  for  its  harmonious  propor- 
tion, refined  detail  and  general  nobility  of  design, 
the  varied  functions  of  the  modern  library  demand 
a  certain  catholicity  of  treatment. 

Not  out  of  place,  therefore,  is  the  more  massive 
mahogany  of  the  English  Georgian  or  our  own 
Colonial  era.  So  important  a  plenishment,  for  in- 
stance, as  the  writing-table  might  well  borrow  its 
proportions  and  its  severity  of  style  as  well  as  its 
common-sensible  capacity  and  convenience  from 
the  century  which  elevated  familiar  correspond- 
ence into  the  sphere  of  literary  art. 


THE     GRAND     RAPIDS     FURNITURE    COMPANY 


THE  BEDROOMS 


The  Bedrooms 


I 


ideal  Bedroom  demands  not  only  a 
nice  sense  of  selection,  but  a  faculty  for 
composition  which  shall  arrange  into  a 
restfully   pleasing   picture   its   various 
plenishings. 

Although  encompassed  with  historical  traditions 
which  reach  farther  back  than  those  of  any  other, 
in  its  present  manifestation,  it  is,  of  all  the  house 
rooms,  the  most  essentially  modern.  For  this  rea- 
son, perhaps,  in  the  search  for  appropriate  styles 
in  its  furnishings,  we  instinctively  approach,  as 
nearly  as  may  be,  to  our  own  time  and  era. 

The  mediaeval  or  Renaissance  Bedroom  with 
its  heavily  draped  and  canopied  State  Bed,  with 


THE       HOUSE      AND      ITS       PLENISHING 


its  tapestried  hangings  and  with  the  carved  and 
painted  coffers  which  were  its  chief  furnishing,  may 
be  left  almost  completely  out  of  our  present 
reckoning.  Not  until  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century  do  we  find,  in  our  own  country  as  well  as 
in  England  and  France,  Bedrooms  which,  con- 
forming in  a  certain  degree  to  our  modern  princi- 
ples of  hygiene,  may  offer  us  some  suggestions 
derived  from  their  furnishing,  of  which  advantage 
may  be  opportunely  taken. 

The  associative,  as  well  as  the  active,  atmosphere 
ot  the  Bedroom  should  be  a  commingling  ot 
fresh  air  and  sunlight,  and  its  ideal  outlook  there- 
fore is  a  garden.  Even  in  the  city,  however,  the 
desired  sentiment  may  be  suggested  by  the  deftness 
of  arrangement,  and  the  sagacious  selection  of  its 
furnishings. 

There  is  more  than  one  Bedroom  still  to  be 
seen  in  some  Colonial  Manor-House  of  Virginia 
or  the  Carolinas  which,  with  its  Mahogany  tall- 
boys, its  tent  bedstead,  and  its  bow-fronted  chest  of 
drawers,  might  well,  even  for  a  closely  hemmed-in 
city  house,  be  reproduced  with  an  almost  textual 
accuracy. 

There  is,  however,  one  Bedroom  in  the  house 
which  calls  for  something  approaching  finesse  in  its 
treatment.  The  custom,  in  France  of  the  late 

THE     GRAND     RAPIDS     FURNITURE     COMPANY 


THE      HOUSE      AND      ITS      PLENISHING 


eighteenth  century,  based  on  the  growing  fond- 
ness for  petits  appartements,  of  dividing  the  Cham- 
ber into  a  suite  of  two  or  more  small  rooms 
including  a  Boudoir,  as  well  as  a  Bedroom,  can- 
not always  with  convenience  be  followed  in  this 
country. 

Nevertheless  the  Bedroom  of  the  mistress  of 
the  household  must  often,  of  necessity,  partake  of 
the  characteristics  of  boudoir  as  well  as  of  sleep- 
ing-chamber. 

For  it  then,  nothing  could  be  more  applicably 
appropriate  than  the  choice  of  that  French  neo- 
classicism,  reticent  in  its  lines  and  daintily  delicate 
in  its  details,  with  which  is  associated  the  name  of 
Louis  Seize,  though  it  is  rather,  perhaps,  to  Marie 
Antoinette  that  the  credit  of  this  appealing  style 
should  be  given.  The  touch  of  feminine  grace 
which  pervades  it,  the  very  purposes  which  led  to 
the  creation  of  some  of  its  more  characteristic 
forms,  such  as  the  Lit  de  Repos^  or  the  'fable  de 
^oilette,  suggest  that  the  Queen  rather  than  the 
King  should  have  been  its  sponsor.  In  any  case, 
however,  there  is,  about  the  best  examples  of  the 
style,  the  courtly  grace,  as  well  as  the  studied  sim- 
plicity, that  are  demanded  by  a  room  which  must 
at  times  serve  for  the  informal  reception  of  fem- 
inine visitors. 


34    AND    36    WEST    THIRTY-SECOND    STREET,    NEW   YORK 


In  Conclusion 

IN  the  foregoing  suggestions  as  to  the  princi- 
ples which   should  underlie  the  furnishing 
of  the  modern  house,  an  endeavor  has  been 
made  to  so  broaden  them   as   to  admit  of 
their  widest  and  most  general  application. 

So,  while  only  the  four  main  rooms  have  been 
considered  in  detail,  the  remaining  rooms  of  the 
house  may  be  treated  on  precisely  similar  lines. 

It  needs  only  to  determine  the  precise  purposes 
for  which  the  room,  whether  Hall  or  Lounging- 
Room,  Nursery  or  Music-Room,  is  destined,  and 
the  general  character  of  the  furniture  most  appro- 
priate to  those  purposes  will  surely  suggest  itself. 
The  satisfactory  selection  of  the  style  which 
seems  to  embody  those  characteristics  will  surely 
follow,  "as  the  night  the  day." 

It  remains  only  to  point  out  the  helpful  part 
which  the  Grand  Rapids  Furniture  Company  is 
prepared  to  play  in  regard  to  this. 

It  has  always  been  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  the 
Company  that  it  is  enabled  to  offer  a  wider  and 
more  diversified  opportunity  for  the  selection  of 

THE     GRAND     RAPIDS     FURNITURE    COMPANY 


THE      HOUSE      AND       ITS       PLENISHING 

carefully  considered  furniture  than  can  elsewhere 
be  found. 

No  matter  what  the  architectural  character  ot 
the  surroundings,  no  matter  what  the  general 
scheme  of  decoration  may  be,  furniture  of  a  style 
which  will  be  appropriately  harmonious  is  always 
to  be  found  among  the  Company's  productions. 

Further  than  this,  it  matters  not  what  may  be 
desired — whether  some  trifle  of  relative  insignifi- 
cance or  some  piece  of  the  utmost  importance  — 
it  will  be  found  in  either  case  to  be  distinguished 
by  the  same  integrity  of  material,  the  same  care- 
fulness of  construction,  and  the  same  whole-hearted 
attention  to  the  nicety  of  its  finish  and  its  details. 


THE    GRAND    RAPIDS     FURNITURE     COMPANY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


Series  9482 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  976  901     9 


